New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) At a time when the cyber vulnerability in the payment gateways of e-wallet companies are becoming visible as they witness a rise in usage and popularity, upgraded security is the only way to safeguard millions of first-time users.

In December, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against 15 Paytm customers for allegedly cheating the digital wallet of Rs 6.15 lakh ($9,000). This was done on a complaint by Paytm's parent company One97, which is backed by China's Alibaba Group.

The case was registered under various sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, forgery, etc. -- and under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

According to top company executives, wallet security has been a prime concern for them post-demonetisation as transactions have grown manifold.

"No one can actually hack into our servers and steal data or money because there are different levels of security," Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President at Paytm, told IANS, adding that they have intrusion-detection programmes by third-party security experts that regularly check the systems for any vulnerability.

Paytm claims to have over 177 million users (as of December 2016) and have handled nearly one billion transactions last year.

According to Abbot, the number of transactions at Paytm is up three times as compared to the numbers recorded before demonetisation and the volume has grown 3.5 times.

"Paytm saw 14-15 per cent growth month-on-month even before demonetisation. When the cash situation improves in the country, we may not see a 100 per cent growth, but we will settle for a much higher percentage of growth," Abbot told IANS.

Abbot pointed out that the Paytm wallet is PCI-DSS certified which is a proprietary information security standard for organisations dealing with online transactions.

"As per the RBI guidelines, every wallet needs to keep the users' money in an escrow account. So even if the escrow account is of Paytm, the company cannot access it. Also, on a daily basis, the company has to share the transaction data with RBI. We are as transparent as can be because of the rules and regulations," Abbot noted.

According to Rohan Khara, Director of Product, MobiKwik, their user base has crossed 45 million and they are witnessing five million transactions daily.

"MobiKwik takes security very seriously. It is PCI-DSS and ISO27001 certified, takes care of the various information security measures to ensure the security of application and protects its business from emerging threats and frauds," Khara told IANS.

"We are soon launching a PIN with which users can access their account through an alternate number in case of a lost phone," Khara added.

Digital payments platform FreeCharge recently announced India's first e-wallet protection plan for its users. Under this, the underlying wallet balance of all the customers will be insured up to a limit of Rs 20,000 as long as the user is transacting at least once a month.

"The facility, in partnership with Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, will be offered free-of-cost to all users. This move by FreeCharge is another step in safeguarding the money in the event of theft or loss of phone," Govind Rajan, Chief Executive Officer, FreeCharge, told IANS.

The number of cards and addresses saved on digital payments platform FreeCharge has now crossed 70 million.

Since demonetisation, FreeCharge saw frequent users jump from about five times a month to more than 15 times a month. It has also seen a fourfold surge in web traffic and a threefold surge in app downloads.

FreeCharge was seeing a 15 per cent month-on-month growth (average daily) on consumer acquisition pre-demonetisation, and now it has grown to 200 per cent.

Security experts emphasise that as the numbers grow, newer forms of vulnerabilities will be exposed in the payment gateways, suggesting that upgraded security is the only way to safeguard small and medium businesses from losing their hard-earned money.

According to Abbot, first-time users are more exposed to digital frauds.

"Just like customers reveal their passwords or OTPs in the banking system to unidentified people, they are doing it in the case of mobile wallets as well. Fraudsters are calling people saying they are from Paytm and extracting money from the users," Abbot pointed out.

Citing the main reason why bank apps have not fared well till date, Abott said banks have the consumers but they do not have the merchant base.

"With Paytm having nearly 65 per cent market share, we are absolutely not worried about the competition because it takes time to build a base. In fact, we will be happy if a worthy competitor comes up," Abbot told IANS.

(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in and Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in )

A corporate retail face of IANS Group, www.ianslive.in presents to you a vivid world of news, views, features, gossips, entertainment, business, sports, international, videos/photos and what not.

Operational 24/7 and currently available in English, the portal brings in a youthful approach in its news coverage, with catchy headlines and impeccable stories that are reliable, accurate and balanced.

One of the USPs of the portal is its exhaustive video/lifestyle and photo galleries, that stores all the latest photos and entertainment videos.

What makes ianslive.in different from other news portals is the authenticity of the information on offer.

We welcome you to visit ianslive.in to have a feel of various interesting features of the portal and spare few minutes to fill the subscription form.

By accessing ianslive.in, you have read, understood and agree to be legally bound by the terms of the following disclaimer and user agreement:

This Site is owned and operated by IANS Group and contains material which is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by the Company, various news agencies and other sources, and is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. Except where specifically authorised, the reader may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit or distribute in any way any material from this site including code and software.

The Company shall have the right at any time to change or modify the terms and conditions applicable to user's use of the ianslive.in

Terms of Use:

By visiting our site you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions. We may change these terms and conditions at any time. Your continued use of ianslive.in means that you accept any new or modified terms and conditions that we come up with.

The term 'ianslive.in' is used through this entire Terms of Use document to refer to the website, its owners and the employees and associates of the owner

LICENSE

ianslive.in hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable license to access ianslive.in provided and expressly conditioned upon your agreement that all such access and use shall be governed by all of the terms and conditions set forth in this USER AGREEMENT.

COPYRIGHT & NO RETRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION:

ianslive.in as well as the design and information contained in this site is the valuable, exclusive property of IANS Group, and nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as transferring or assigning any such ownership rights to you or any other person or entity.

You may not resell, redistribute, broadcast or transfer information, software and applications or use the information, software and applications provided by ianslive.in in a searchable, machine-readable database unless separately and specifically authorized in writing by ianslive.in prior to such use.

You may not rent, lease, sublicense, distribute, transfer, copy, reproduce, publicly display, publish, adapt, store or time-share ianslive.in, any part thereof, or any of the software, application or information received or accessed there from to or through any other person or entity unless separately and specifically authorized in writing by ianslive.in prior to such use.

In addition, you may not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, legal or proprietary notices in or on any portions of ianslive.in without prior written authorization. Except as set forth herein, any other use of the information, software or application contained in this site requires the prior written consent of ianslive.in and may require a separate fee.

DELAYS IN SERVICES:

Neither ianslive.in (including its and their directors, employees, affiliates, agents, representatives or subcontractors) shall be liable for any loss or liability resulting, directly or indirectly, from delays or interruptions due to electronic or mechanical equipment failures, telephone interconnect problems, defects, weather, strikes, walkouts, fire, acts of God, riots, armed conflicts, acts of war, or other like causes. ianslive.in shall have no responsibility to provide you access to ianslive.in while interruption of ianslive.in is due to any such cause shall continue.

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER:

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

THE CONTENTS, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, FEATURES AND SERVICES PUBLISHED ON THIS WEB SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE CONTENTS HEREIN. IANSLIVE.IN AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THIS WEB SITE AT ANY TIME. THIS WEB SITE MAY BE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE FROM TIME TO TIME DUE TO REQUIRED MAINTENANCE, TELECOMMUNICATIONS INTERRUPTIONS, OR OTHER DISRUPTIONS. IANSLIVE.IN (AND ITS OWNERS, SUPPLIERS, CONSULTANTS, ADVERTISERS, AFFILIATES, PARTNERS, EMPLOYEES OR ANY OTHER ASSOCIATED ENTITIES, ALL COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS ASSOCIATED ENTITIES HEREAFTER) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO USER OR MEMBER OR ANY THIRD PARTY SHOULD IANSLIVE.IN EXERCISE ITS RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE ANY OR ALL OF THE CONTENTS, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, FEATURES AND SERVICES PUBLISHED ON THIS WEBSITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL IANSLIVE.IN AND/OR ITS ASSOCIATED ENTITIES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THIS WEB SITE OR WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THIS WEBSITE, OR FOR ANY CONTENTS, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, FEATURES AND SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS WEB SITE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF IANSLIVE.IN OR ANY OF ITS ASSOCIATED ENTITIES HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES.

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES

The links in this site will allow you to leave ianslive.in. The linked sites are not under the control of ianslive.in. ianslive.in has not reviewed, nor approved these sites and is not responsible for the contents or omissions of any linked site or any links contained in a linked site. The inclusion of any linked site does not imply endorsement by ianslive.in of the site. Third party links to ianslive.in shall be governed by a separate agreement.

INDEMNIFICATION:

YOU SHALL INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS IANSLIVE.IN (INCLUDING ITS AND THEIR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, GROUP COMPANIES, AGENTS, REPRESENTATIVES OR SUBCONTRACTORS) FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND LOSSES IMPOSED ON, INCURRED BY OR ASSERTED AS A RESULT OF OR RELATED TO: (a) your access and use of ianslive.in (b) any non-compliance by user with the terms and conditions hereof; or (c) any third party actions related to users receipt and use of the information, whether authorized or unauthorized. Any clause declared invalid shall be deemed severable and not affect the validity or enforceability of the remainder. These terms may only be amended in a writing signed by ianslive.in.

JURISDICTION:

The terms of this agreement are exclusively based on and subject to Indian law. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in New Delhi, India in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this website. Use of this website is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without limitation this paragraph.